1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pointing system in a data processing environment. More particularly, the present invention relates to a pointing system which corrects position information of a hot spot included in a template to a coordinate system of an image and repositions and outputs it in a click position.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, as mobile devices such as the personal assistant (PA) have been developed, cases have been significantly increasing in which a small device is used for receiving a fax, for accessing image data on the Internet, etc. Correspondingly, the size of the display associated with such devices is quite small. While, in the case of the PA, a pen device is frequently used for pointing to a location on its display, accurate pointing is very difficult due to the small size of the display area. Usually, to point to and select an arbitrary point of displayed image data, the point is directly clicked with a pointing device such as a mouse, or else an image is enlarged prior to point selection (being clicked) to improve accuracy. In the case of directly clicking it, however, it is difficult to accurately specify a target point and select (click) it due to a difference in resolution between a screen and an image or poor visibility of the screen itself.
On the other hand, while accuracy may be improved by enlarging the image, the operation becomes complicated, considering the trouble of enlarging the image and possible necessity of scrolling the enlarged image if it becomes too large for complete display. Such problems are especially serious for a small mobile device such as a PA.
For instance, it is assumed that, in the case of a form image or the like, an operator needs to specify a starting point and an endpoint of a ruled line by clicking a mouse. In that case, it is very difficult to accurately specify with a mouse a starting point and an endpoint of a ruled line. Though it is possible to do so by displaying an enlarged image, unnecessary operations will increase, such as enlarging, reducing and scrolling.
Moreover, the problem of displaying a reduced image is not limited to a small device such as a PA, but also occurs for other display devices and the like which are now generally used. Resolution of a display of a desktop computer, a notebook computer and the like which are now generally used is 1024 dots widexc3x97768 dots long, 1280 dots widexc3x971024 dots long and the like. In many cases, however, the sizes of images actually used for business are much larger than these sizes.
For instance, if an image is created from an A4-size sheet, it becomes approximately 2280 dots longxc3x971650 dots wide for fax quality (200 dpi length and width), and approximately 3420 dots longxc3x972470 dots wide for 300 dpi, which is considered a minimum resolution requirement in the case that optical character recognition (OCR) is a prerequisite. In addition, in the case of 400 dpi considered as a recommended condition for Japanese OCR and the like, it becomes approximately 4560 dots longxc3x973300 dots wide. If these images are to be displayed on the above-mentioned displays, to display an image of 400 dpi on a display of 1024xc3x97768 dots, the length and width must be reduced to one sixth or so respectively so as to display the entire image at once on the display. Even for fax quality image, the length and width must be reduced to one third or so respectively. The necessary additional operations, such as enlarging, reducing and scrolling of an image, place a large burden on the user, and require time.
With regard to such a problem, for instance, Japanese Unexamined patent Publication No. Hei 6-28100 describes a method wherein a coordinate of a designated point specified by a pointing device is corrected with correction data so that the corrected coordinate position becomes the designated point specified by the pointing device. Also, Japanese Unexamined patent Publication No. Hei 3-18965 describes a method for acquiring by calculation a point of intersection of line segments in the vicinity of a specified point so as to correct the position. However, these background techniques describe methods for coping with specific corrections for specific business applications, and thus only pointing to an existing point such as intersection of line segments is possible. Such background techniques do not provide a method for accurately pointing to arbitrary positions of various shapes. In addition, they are not capable of more flexible correction to identify a coordinate position. For instance, they are not capable of correcting to a point with no line segment instead of a point of intersection of line segments. Furthermore, they do not provide a method for dynamically registering/changing position correction information during a pointing operation.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and a system for pointing which are not sensitive to a difference in resolution between a screen and an image.
Another object is to provide a method and a system for pointing which are capable of easily pointing to any desired position in an image even in an environment where a display device does not have the ability to display the entire image.
A further object is to provide a method and a system for pointing which are capable of pointing to any desired position of an image without enlarging an image or scrolling.
A still further object is to provide a method and a system for pointing which are capable of accurately pointing to any desired position of images having irregular shapes.
A still further object is to provide a method and a system for pointing which are capable of more flexible correction to identify a coordinate position.
A still further object is to provide a method and a system for pointing which are capable of correcting to a point not associated with a line segment.
A still further object is to provide a method and a system for pointing which are capable of dynamically registering/changing position correction information during a pointing operation.
To achieve the above-mentioned objects, pointing is performed by using position correction information (position information of a hot spot) and an associated image as a template. A hot spot is an arbitrary point specified in advance in a template image, and a hot spot position in a template is used as correction information of a pointing position. It is organized so that, first, an image in the vicinity of a coordinate obtained from a pointing device is compared with an image of a template, a closest matching template and its position on an image are located, and a final pointing position is calculated from the position on the image and position correction information (position information of a hot spot) associated with the template.
Since it is organized in this way, easy pointing is possible even in the cases that a large image is reduced for display or a display device itself, such as a PDA, is too small for an accurate click. In addition, as it is possible to accurately point to arbitrary positions of images having irregular shapes, more flexible correction can be performed to identify a coordinate position. For instance, it is possible to correct to a point without the need for a line segment or to select a hot spot position freely, such as upper right or upper left portion of an image, in addition to the vicinity of the center of a template. Furthermore, a template (a template image and position correction information) can be dynamically generated/changed during a pointing operation.